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PERSONAL SKETCH ! 



Otis, Harrison Gray: 

Union soldier and officer throughout the War of the Rebellion; brigadier-general 
and brevet major-general of U. S. Volunteers in the war against Spam; editor ol the 
VnCTeles Timea (1882-1912). Born in Washington County, Oh.o, February in. 
1837. so °n of Stephen Otis an,! Sarah (Dyar) Otis; he was the youngest of sixteen 
children in his father's two families His parents were pioneer citizens o Southern 
Ohio his father having emigrated from Fast Poultney, Vt., in 1800, at the age of 
..;, to the Far West, settling in the Ohio Company's Purchase a, Marietta; his 

mother »1 -a native of N Scotia, emigrated with her parents from Boston 

earlj in the century, settling in .he Muskingum Vallej in Southern Oh.o. 

His grandfather was a patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War, honorably dis- 
charged and pensioned. The Otis stock has produced James Ot.s, famous as a Revo- 
lufio g nan patrio) and ,„,,„„, and the first Harrison Gray Otis, once United States 
Senator from Massachusetts 

The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm, attending the common schools 
of Southern Ohio for three months in each winter, until the age of fourteen, when he 

eft horn o ,,arn the printing trade. He spent rm of less than six months in 

Wetherbys Academy, Lowell, Ohio, in 1856-57, and afterwards graduated from 
Granger's Commercial College. Columbus, Ohio. 

He enlisted as a private in the Twelfth Ohio Volunteers June 25, 1861, w-as pro- 
moted to Mrs, sergeant March 1, 1862; second lieutenant, November 12, 1862 first 
Heutenant May 30, 1863, and to captain, July 1, 1864 on winch date he was transferred, 
! ," the consolidation of the two regiments, to the Twenty-third Ohio Veteran 
Volunteers, of wind, Rutherford B. Hayes was colonel and William McK.nley a cap 
t;m , and subsequently breve, major of U. S Vols (Both of them subsequen I re-, 
dents of the United States., He took par. in many actions with the Army of Wes 

f the Shenandoah; was wounded at 
\„,ie,an, September 17, 1862, and again .severely, a. Kernstown, July 24, 1864. In 
the winter of 1864-'65 he was assigned, as th. -en, or capta.n present for duty, to 



Army of the Potomac, and Vrmy of the Shenandoah; was wounded at 
. September 17, 1862, and again (sev 
nter of 1864-'65 he was assigned, as the 
nmand of l„s regimen, at ( umberland, Maryland, and led it up the Shenandoah 
Valley to Harrisonburg, where he was provost marshal up to the close of the war, 
when he was honorably discharged, and later was brevetted major and lieutenant- 
colonel "for gallant and meritorious services during the war," and honorably dis- 
charged -Wgust 1. 1865. He had served forty-nine months in the army, in field and camp, 
participated in fifteen engagements, was tw.ee wounded in battle, and received seven 
promotions, including two brevets. In the course of his military serve- in the War 
Of the Rebellion he made a ha, tie record embracing the following actions, in which he 
was a participant; Searcy Creek. W. Va . July 17. 1861; Carnifex Ferry, Va., Sep.. 
10 1861; Bull Run Bridge. Va . Aug 27. 1852; Frederick, Md„ Sept. 1-'. 1862, (skirmish), 
South Mountain, Sep, 14, 1862; Antietam, Sept. 17. 1862, (wounded,; Blue Sulphur 
Springs W Va Sep,. 1863, (skirmish); Boyer's Ferry, W. Va., Nov. 1863, 
(skirmish); Meadow Bluff, W Va., Dee. 14. 1863, (picket fight); Princeton Va May. 
1864 (skirmish); Clovd Mountain, Va., May 9, 1864; Nev, River Bridge, Va., May 10. 
1864; Quaker Church, (Lynchburg), Va., June 17-18, 1864; Cabelltown, Va.. July 20, 
1864; Kernstown, Va., July 24, 1864, (severely wounded,. 

He became owner of a small newspaper and printing plant at Marietta. Ohio, in 
1865- was foreman of the Government I'm, ling Office at Washing,,.,,. 1869 and 1870; 
chief of a division in the United States Patent Office, 1871 to 1876; editor and pub 
lisher of the Santa Barbara Press, 1876 to 1880; principal United States ["reasury 
A,,,.,,, i n charge ol th< Seal Islands of Alaska from 1879 to 1881. 



"Adapted from a sketch originally prepared for James 'I'. White & Co., publishers, New 

York, at their request 



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In 1882 he was offered by the State Department the appointment of U. S. Consul 
for the Samoan [slands, and in 1884 a similar appointment at Tien Tsin, China, both 
of which he declined. 

He became a fourth owner in the Los Angeles 'limes August 1, 1882, and in 
October, 1884, joined in the organiaztion of The Times Mirror Company for its con- 
tinued publication, and lias been its president and general manager since 1886. He is 
also a director of the Times-Mirror Printing and Binding House. President of the 
Board of Control "f the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company, director in the Cal- 
ifornia-Mexico Land and Cattle Company, and president of the Colorado River Land 
Company, (a Mexican corporation) associated with the former — which corporations 
together own and operate a large tract of delta lands (once desert) lying along the 
Rio Colorado of the West, mainly on the Peninsula of Lower California,, Mexico. 

In 1898 he served in the Spanish-American War. and in 1899 in the war to sup- 
press the Filipino insurrection, as brigadier-general of Volunteers, having been 
appointed by President McKinley, May. 1898, and assigned, first, to the Independent 
Division, Philippine Islands Expeditionary Forces, at Camp Merrit, California; later 
to the command of the second section of the fourth sea expedition to the Philippines, 
and subsequently to the Eighth Army Corps at Manila, where he commanded lie First 
Brigade of the First Division, and later the First Brigade of the Second Division, hold 
ing the left of the American line on the northerly front id' Manila. He was present, in 
command of his brigade, at the Filipino outbreak on the night of February 4, 1899, 
and participated with his command, constantly on the advance line, in all the siihse 
quent actions up to and including the capture of Mololos, March 31, 1890. His brigade 
constituted the principal force engaged in the assault upon and capture oi Caloocan 
on February ID, 1899. On March 25. 1899, he was ordered, with his brigade, to "pierce 
the enemy's center" in the first advance from La Loma Church northward to Malolos, 
the temporary Filipino capital. This order he successfully executed at the head of his 
brigade. 

On April _'. 1899. Brigadier-General Otis was relieved of his command, at Malolos, 
by his own request, and returned to the United States, where he was honorably dis- 
charged from the military service, July 2. 1899. He was subsequently brevetted major- 
general "for meritorious conduct in action at Caloocan, March 25, 1899." 

General Otis is a stalwart independent Republican in politics, a steady opponent 
of political insurgency, and trains with the Old Republican Guard. He was Official 
Reporter of the Ohio House of Representatives at the session of 1866-'67; was a dele- 
gate from Kentucky to the National Republican Convention at Chicago which nomi- 
nated Abraham Lincoln for President in 1860; and also a delegate from the District 
of Columbia to the Soldiers and Sailors' National Convention at Chicago, in 1868, 
which first nominated General U. S. Grant for the Presidency. 

He is a member of the American Academy of Sciences, Associated Press and 
American Newspaper Publishers' Association; also a member of the Grand Army of 
the Republic, Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Society of the Army of the Potomac. 
Military Order of Foreign Wars. United Spanish War Veterans. National Society of 
the Army of the Philippines, Veteran Army of the Philippines. Order of Sons of the 
American Revolution, and of several local Clubs and Societies 

He was appointed by the President a commissioner on the part of the United 
States to attend the Centennial of Mexican Independence in September. 1910. and dis- 
charged that function acceptably to his government. 

On his return to Los Angeles, on the first day of October, 1910, he found that the 
building of his newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, had been criminally dynamited 
early on that morning, blown up and destroyed by lire, sacrificing the lives of twenty 
of his loyal workmen. By common admission. The Times has had a very large hand in 
the brave and persistent task of achieving that high measure of industrial liberty and 
prosperity which have made Los Angeles the leader, in these respects, among cities 
of like population in the United State- 
In May. 1911. he represented the Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles at the 
Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration. (17th annual session). In 
June. 1911, he was a member of an official conference called by tin- Secretary of the 



Interior, under the approval of the President, to consider the flood situation on the Rio 
Colorado of the West in its lower reaches. The conference, mainly composed of 
engineers, made a unanimous report to the President, which was approved by him. 

He married at Lowell, Ohio., September 11, 1859, Miss Eliza A. Wetherby, who 
died November 12, 1904, and who was actively associated with her husband in journal- 
ism for more than a quarter of a century. She is the author of a noted volume of 
poetry and prose entitled "California. Where Sets the Sun" (1905). Of that union 
came a son, Harrison Gray, born 1861, died in infancy; and four daughters: Lilian, 
born September 22, 1864, died March, 1905; Marian, born July 1, 1866 (wife of Harry 
(.handler); Mabel, born May 28, 1871 (wife of Franklin Booth), and Esther, born in 
1876, died in infancy. 

Residence: "The Bivouac", Westlake, Los Angeles. Office address: Times 
Building, Los Angeles, California. 



[In this personal sketch no attempt has been made to give a history of the Los 
Angeles Times, or even the chief events of its notable career. The business history of 
the paper and of its publishing company are found in twenty-live different annual 
reports rendered to the stockholders by General ( >tis in Ins capacity as president and 
general manager. These reports, not being public property, are preserved in the 
archives of the office. The editorial course and conduct of the paper have been written 
in its editorial and news columns from day to day during the thirty years of its life, 
and is i ipen history. 

General Otis has long been a conspicuous, aggressive anil steadfast defender of the 
principle of freedom in the industries, and his journal, the Los Angeles Times, is freely 
acknowledged to be the foremost champion of the cause. A new and more imposing 
Times Building is in course of erection on the ruins of the destroyed structure. 
Despite the awful diNasicr to it. The Times has expanded from nothing in 1881 to one 
of the first newspaper properties extant in 1912 — from a circulation in 1881 of about 
one thousand copies daily to an average circulation in 1912 of approximately 53„000 
copies daily and 84,1)01) copies on Sundays It- gross earnings have reached a million 
and a half dollars yearly; and during the period between August 4, 1890, and Septem- 
ber 30, 1910, the office paid to its loyal and well-satisfied non-union workmen., in salaries 
and wages, the telling aggregate cash sum of $4,025,122.68 — mainly to skilled labor.] 




"THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY" 

Destruction by dynamite and fire of the Times Building, October 1, 1910. 
(From a poem entitled "The Times Holocaust", published after the fateful event.) 

"High on the ruins of the battlement 

The Eagle stood, unscatched, above the wreck 

Of dynamite and death. The morning sun 

Threw o'er its grimy wings a sheen of gold 

To symbolize that Liberty shall live, 

While in the arms of God the martyred dead 

Shall rest eternally, and willing hands 

Shall take their places here and rear again 

A thousand temples unto Liberty 

For every one that falls." 



iHUirriy mtu Cam, izqualtta of (Oppurtmiitg. jhiiutatrial ifrrruam 



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H.G.O. 



1837 / 
1859 f 

1833 ) 
1904 \ 

1861 / 
1865 , 

1398) 
1399$ 



Holiday Greetings — 1910 



FROM 



Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, 

with timely salutations, 

TO HIS FRIEND 
"(§ura" Sl]i? ICua Angelas amirs 



Dieu te garde! 
Health, long life and happiness! 



"Ours" 



Dec. 4 
1881 

Oct 1 
1910 

Aug. 1 
1882 

Dec 25 
1910 



" tCnrii (&ui> of Basts ! tic uiitli us urt. 
Irst me fornrt, lrst mr fururt!" 



AMERICAN CITIZEN, SOLDIER AND JOURNALIST - DEFENDER OF THE FAITH ' 



PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION 



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GEN HARRISON GRAY OTIS 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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